Technology & World Change
Industrial-Technological Revolutions:
I – Subsistence farming Manufacturing (Division of labor)
II – Mass production (Rise of machines)
III – Services & information (Artificial intelligence)
Industrial Revolution I
- 18th – 19th century (1750~1850)
- Steam engines Pumps for coal mines
- Manufacturing
Division of labor Specialization Increase efficiency
‘Cottage industries’
KIV: Trading
- Train transport (e.g. Steam train), heavy industries
- Rise of the middle classes Political movements, workers’ unions, etc.
Upper class: Landowners, Factory owners, Nobility
Middle class: Derive income from manufacturing & providing services (other than farming)
Working class
Industrial Revolution II
- Late 19th – mid 20th century
- Mechanical mass production Mass consumption Quality
- Crossover human diseases picked up from newly domesticated animals
Close proximity with animals
- Famines from crop failures/pests
Concentrated area Higher concentration of pests
Farming only source of food Decrease in flexibility
Increase in population density Increased demand for food
Iron/Steel: What you need?
- Early mining
- Discovery of smelting at high temperatures Reduction of oxidized iron ore
Knowledge of chemistry required (Oxidation & reduction)
- Technology involved: Furnace
- Certain division of labor and tools
Trading iron for food, etc.
Iron/Steel: What you get?
- Iron age begins: By ca. 1600-1200 BCE in Asia Minor
- Metal > Stone: Hard + Easier to mold into desired shapes
- Better cutting, armory, cannons and guns
Steel: What you also get?
- Much more effective weaponry and wars
- BUT, heavy industrial pollution
Evidence of Doubt: Patchy Adoption of Farming
- Not universally adopted everywhere
- Patchy adoption starting ca. 8500 BCE
- Farming not necessarily an advantage
Early farmers were often shorter, less well fed than hunter-gatherers
“Paradox of food production”
Higher food production Higher
I – Subsistence farming Manufacturing (Division of labor)
II – Mass production (Rise of machines)
III – Services & information (Artificial intelligence)
Industrial Revolution I
- 18th – 19th century (1750~1850)
- Steam engines Pumps for coal mines
- Manufacturing
Division of labor Specialization Increase efficiency
‘Cottage industries’
KIV: Trading
- Train transport (e.g. Steam train), heavy industries
- Rise of the middle classes Political movements, workers’ unions, etc.
Upper class: Landowners, Factory owners, Nobility
Middle class: Derive income from manufacturing & providing services (other than farming)
Working class
Industrial Revolution II
- Late 19th – mid 20th century
- Mechanical mass production Mass consumption Quality
- Crossover human diseases picked up from newly domesticated animals
Close proximity with animals
- Famines from crop failures/pests
Concentrated area Higher concentration of pests
Farming only source of food Decrease in flexibility
Increase in population density Increased demand for food
Iron/Steel: What you need?
- Early mining
- Discovery of smelting at high temperatures Reduction of oxidized iron ore
Knowledge of chemistry required (Oxidation & reduction)
- Technology involved: Furnace
- Certain division of labor and tools
Trading iron for food, etc.
Iron/Steel: What you get?
- Iron age begins: By ca. 1600-1200 BCE in Asia Minor
- Metal > Stone: Hard + Easier to mold into desired shapes
- Better cutting, armory, cannons and guns
Steel: What you also get?
- Much more effective weaponry and wars
- BUT, heavy industrial pollution
Evidence of Doubt: Patchy Adoption of Farming
- Not universally adopted everywhere
- Patchy adoption starting ca. 8500 BCE
- Farming not necessarily an advantage
Early farmers were often shorter, less well fed than hunter-gatherers
“Paradox of food production”
Higher food production Higher